country in western South America on the Pacific coast south of the Equator; a republic; capital Lima area 496,225 square miles (1,285,216 square kilometers), population 31,331,000
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Spanish viceroyalty 1542–1718 comprising modern Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and a large portion of modern Brazil; capital Lima